NN got it right
By Dan Winters
Daily Press
August 25, 2005
The Hampton City Council is now facing the same decision the Newport News City Council once had to make. What should the city do with city-owned property that developers are slobbering all over themselves to get their hands on? Currently, Hampton plans to sell off most of the city-owned Buckroe property in order to finance its plans to buy up the nearby blighted areas. They plan to keep 10 acres for public use, but most will go to developers. Once sold, that property will be gone forever due to the escalating value of waterfront land.
Not too many years ago a group of developers approached the Newport News City Council and proposed that the city sell them the City Farm correctional facility for development. The money gained would have allowed the prison to be moved, provided capital to the city, and produced tax revenue. However, when the public learned of the possibility that some of the last waterfront land owned by the city could be lost to the public, there was a massive negative reaction to any such action. The City Council listened and the property was retained. Best of all, the property is now in the process of being developed solely for recreation.
There are jogging trails, a gymnastics center, parking lots, playgrounds and ball fields. I never pass by what is now Riverview Farm Park when there are not people enjoying what is a priceless jewel on the Newport News landscape. It is planned that the park will go on to include facilities along the waterfront when money comes available for further recreational facilities. That property is, perhaps, more than 10 times the size of the Buckroe property and the city didn't sell any of it.
The Newport News City Council got it right. The future should never be sold out for the momentary needs of the present. Only time will tell whether the Hampton City Council has the same concern for future generations.
Dan Winters
Hampton
Copyright (c) 2005, Daily Press
